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Szkandelous.features.gamereviews.castlevaniaCoMS

Castlevania: Concerto of Midnight Sun, First Impressions

On June 6, 2002 Konami released the latest installment
of the famed Castlevania series, dubbed Castlevania: Concerto of Midnight
Sun (Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance in the US) for Nintendo's Game
Boy Advance system. This time around you play as Jeste Belmont, Simon
Belmont's successor 50 years after the original Castlevania game.

The first thing that one notices about Castlevania CoMS
is that Jeste Belmont looks significantly like Alucard from the Playstation's
Castlevania Symphony of the Night. I can’t help but think this is
intentional; ComS marks the return of the original SotN team to the Castlevania
series since SotN's. Jeste and Alucard's similarity reaches all the way
to the onion-skinning-style shadowing effect used on the player. Unfortunately
the effect isn't nearly as impressive on the Game Boy Advanced as it is
on the Playstation.

Despite the mediocre shadowing effect, the game excels
graphically. Within the first two minutes the player is introduced to
several of the high quality effects used throughout the game. While running
through the mansion there are scenes where at least four layers of background
can be seen. The effect is not limited to parallax scrolling either; there
are unreachable enemies running amok behind windows, moving fog and strange
pattern effects to add mood. In another room a giant suit of armor made
of several scaling tiles lurches toward Jeste like a possessed Halloween
skeleton poster. The graphics, as a whole, are (thankfully) brighter,
and thus easier to see on the GBA, than 2001’s Circle of the Moon.

Another one of Castlevania CoMS's impressive features
is its attention to detail. Some features, like the large number of ways
in which enemies die, are only partially present, while others are entirely
lacking from the series' first GBA title. My personal favorite effect
has to be the wide variety of ways the candle holders strewn throughout
the mansion collapse into a pile of trash when you destroy them.

Musically CoMS strays away from CotM's dark slow feel
into more traditional Castlevania fare. Compositions are faster and more
melodramatic.

Finally, CoMS's gameplay stays true to the most recent
editions of the series, a combination of NES-era platforming with a healthy
dose of Metroid-style adventuring. CoMS features an RPG-influenced experience
point system like the rest of the recent Castlevanias. In the couple of
hours I’ve spent with the game, the differences in magic system
from the other Castlevanias became apparent. This time the player combines
magic books with the standard Castlevania subweapons (knife, holywater...)
to create magical effects like the flaming knife. Although the current
system seems slightly harder to experiment with compared to CotM's system,
it doesn't at all feel cumbersome.

With the new system come new commands. Gone is the magical
effect on/off button, instead replaced with a down+L+R motion. In its
place, the L/R buttons function as a dash, each representing a different
direction. CoMS button arrangement reflects a more natural setup than
its predacessor CotM.

The last additions to gameplay come in the form of new
collectables. Aside from the weapons and armor found throughout the castle,
CoMS features relics (which give Jeste Castlevania abilities like double
jump), magic books which are combined with subweapons for magic effects
(as described above), another subset of magic books which unlock certain
features of the game such as the ability to view an enemies name and damage
received (each has an on/off switch so that the player can use only the
features he/she wants), and finally a special "secrets" sub-screen.
The secrets sub-screen features an encyclopedia of all of the enemies
encountered so far (as well as useful information like their stats, weaknesses,
and what items they drop) and a catalogue of, well, furniture.

Throughout Dracula's mansion are various pieces of furniture
to be placed inside the mansions special furniture room. As of two hours
into the game it is not apparent what collecting furniture does; however
I imagine it has something to do with unlocking secrets. If so, the feature
adds even more replayability to a series known for its replay value.

From the first two hours of game play, it is already
apparent that the Castlevania: Concerto of Midnight Sun is leaps ahead
of its GBA predecessor. However, it is still limited to the abilities
of the GBA platform, so, if there are places where the game lacks, those
would be in some of it's graphical effects (in comparison to a Playstation
mind you) and it's length. However, fans of the series, fans of Circle
of the Moon and those fans who loved Symphony of the Night and deplored
Circle of the Moon...well, everyone should play this game. Castlevania:
Concerto of Midnight Sun is do out for American release under the title
Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance this September from Konami Computer
Entertainment.

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